Under the influence
by Ylla.tenplusnine
Summary: Ichigo intended to take Rukia on a trip to the Philippines as a treat to her on her birthday. But to his dismay, he and Rukia arrived at Keigo and Mizuiro waiting for them in the country. Some instances made Ichigo contemplate about his feelings for her.


**Title: Under the Influence**

**Fandom:** Bleach

**Characters:** Ichigo, Rukia, Keigo, Mizuiro;

**Pairing: **Ichigo/Rukia

**Word count: **3, 995

**Rating:** T

**Genre:** Romance, Fluff

**Warning:** Sporadic OOC-ness. XD

**Disclaimer:** The characters are Kubo Tite's.

**Summary:**

Ichigo intended to take Rukia on a trip to the Philippines as a treat to her on her birthday. But to his dismay, he and Rukia arrived at Keigo and Mizuiro waiting for them in the country. Their trip to Sagada and the instances that took place in there made Ichigo consider his feelings for Rukia and contemplate about them.

**-------------**

Ichigo was barely hiding his irritation as he sulked in his seat in the bus bound for Sagada; the rocky and bumpy road even exacerbated his already boiling temper. Just a little push and the emotions he was bottling inside him would burst; but he didn't want that to happen. He knew better than to be a jackass and spoil the day—which was the eve of Rukia's birthday—something that he initially planned to be special—for the two of them. However, the world seemed not to be supportive, and instead, it seemed to be playing evil and conspired with the universe in order for him to not achieve his goal to have a quality time alone with Rukia in one of the cool places in the Philippines: Sagada. It was the one which he decided to be the perfect place for Rukia to spend her hundred and fifty something-th birthday after hours of searching over the internet.

"Ichigo. Take a look at this," Keigo whispered to him, shoving a brochure at his face. "It says here that there are hanging coffins in uhh… what's this? Sagada? Why in the world did you choose to have a--" Keigo didn't manage to finish his statement as he perhaps felt the menacing aura exuded by the man he was trying to talk to.

"Ichigo. Are you okay? I can make out a big vein on your temple. Are you that unwilling to take us with you in this trip?" Mizuiro who was sitting comfortably in the seat in front of him said as he looked over his shoulder to study him.

Ichigo stayed silent and ignored their remarks as Keigo leaned to whisper something to Mizuiro.

He didn't know what happened, but the plans he concocted for several days to perfection seemed to have disappeared into thin air as he saw Keigo and Mizuiro waving at him and Rukia at the arrival area of Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the Philippines, just as he and Rukia entered after having descended from the airplane. He didn't know how the two bastards knew of his planned trip with Rukia – and they even went out of their way to buy plane tickets and came to the Philippines ahead of them. He so wanted to bang their heads together as he saw their triumphant and teasing faces at the sight of him with Rukia.

Rukia on the other hand seemed happy to see them both and up until now, several hours after that incident, as she sat beside Mizuiro in the bus bound for Sagada—a place which was several kilometers up North of Manila, the capital of the country—she hadn't said much to him, and he didn't know if it's just his imagination or not, but there was something not normal about her. He didn't get much chance to study her, much less ask what's wrong with her, because Keigo kept on pestering him since they left the airport to travel by land to the target place.

He heaved a sigh and looked out of the window and stared at the changing sceneries which they have passed. He continued scowling and felt frustrated as the thoughts of the possible times alone with Rukia in a strange and exciting place bid their goodbye to him. Once again, he sighed. Well, he might as well make the most out of this trip and enjoy it with his company, which was now a little more than what he had intended.

-------------

It was a little before lunchtime when they arrived at the place, and after having left their things at a hotel and having their early lunch, the four of them departed to commence their adventure.

The first one they visited was the renowned "hanging coffins". It was just a few minutes away from the hotel in which they checked in, proving the information he got from his laborious researching over the internet right. He didn't bother to hire a tourist guide—for the reason that he intended to have a quality time with Rukia—alone.

It wasn't long before he found himself staring at the existent replica of the picture that awed him a few days back. He caught his breath as he stared at the cliff towering over them, which was covered intermittently with pine trees, giving off a splendid view of a landscape. He looked at Rukia, who was then walking beside him, and he saw that she too was awed. _Good_, he thought. _At least I am making some of my plans succeed_.

The four of them trekked towards the cliff until they were exactly right under it. Ichigo looked up at the stacks of coffins-- which appeared to be improvised from logs of trees—and are ingeniously hung on the cliff. How they were exactly hung at the sides of the cliff, he had no idea.

He glanced at Rukia who was so lost in studying the stacked coffins on the cliff and thought that this trip may be serving its purpose.

"Hey Ichigo. Why would the humans think of hanging coffins on cliffs like this," she asked him while she continued to stare at the coffins, her arms folded on her chest.

He was about to tell her the ancient, mystic belief of the pagan locals about the dead being returned to nature when he suddenly heard an annoying squeal coming from behind him.

"Eek! Did you see that? Did you see that? I think I just saw the lid of that coffin lift." Keigo shrieked as he clung to Mizuiro, who was looking curiously at the coffins.

"Hmmm. I wonder how the locals managed to suspend those coffins on the cliff." Mizuiro said—more to himself, ignoring Keigo who appeared to be genuinely terrified. "Ichigo, do you know how old these coffins are?" He said, turning suddenly to Ichigo.

"Beats me. But I read that these coffins are already centuries old." Ichigo said barely recalling the bits of information he gathered from the internet. "The practice has long been stopped, I guess." He added.

Ichigo again glanced at Rukia who was still looking intently at the coffins, and he guessed what she was wanting to do. He bent sideward towards her to whisper, "Don't. Keigo and Mizuiro are still here. They might freak out if you go leaping towards those."

"Oh. Right." Rukia said, as she tore away her gaze from the hanging coffins. Ichigo stared at her for a few seconds as he analyzed if what he just saw on her face was embarrassment or not.

"Ichigo! Let's get going. Keigo is killing my arm. At least I want to tour this place whole." Mizuiro said, as he struggled to remove Keigo's arm clinging to him, getting Ichigo's attention.

"This is not my fault!" Keigo said in defense, his eyes squeezed tightly. "And why are you guys so fascinated by those freaking coffins?" he added.

"It's not our fault that you're a scaredy-cat, Keigo. And we didn't drag your ass here, so stop complaining." Ichigo told him, turning towards the two, resisting the urge to laugh at Keigo's appearance. He looked at Rukia at the corner of his eyes and that's when he realized that she, too was stifling her laugh.

"Cmon Ichigo. We should get out of here before Asano-san embarrasses himself beyond repair," she told him in a low voice, not wanting Keigo nor Mizuiro to hear her remark; her shoulders shaking.

Ichigo wondered why there's a sudden leap inside his chest as he saw the mirth on her face. Seconds have passed before he realized that Rukia, Keigo, and Mizuiro already went ahead of him—setting his previous wonderment aside.

"Oy, Ichigo. I haven't heard or read something like that in Soul Society. Do humans often have strange ways of burial?" Rukia asked him as he caught up to her.

"Eh? How would I know?" he answered. "Well, maybe. But I don't even know which ones are recorded in Soul Society and which ones are not. There's just a bunch of people in the world, and a bunch of cultures, so maybe, you can find some strange practices here and there." He explained as Rukia nodded.

They have already passed several towns as they hiked towards their next destination—enjoying the proximity to nature that the hiking offered.

Ichigo again caught himself staring at Rukia. Why is he often doing that again? Why can't he just relish the touch of nature just like the object of his vision does? This is unfair. He should be enjoying this trip as much as she does.

"Say Ichigo. How much have you scored yet?" Keigo whispered to him as he isolated him from Rukia—who ignored them and continued walking.

"Sc—what? What the hell are you babbling, Keigo? Keep walking!" Ichigo answered, a little louder than necessary, much to his surprise.

"Ohoho! Look, Mizuiro. He's still denying." Keigo shouted to Mizuiro who was walking leisurely behind them, and who appeared to Ichigo to be faking indifference towards Keigo's curiosity.

"C'mon tell us. We're your best friends, aren't we?" Keigo continued, nudging him, which to his surprise caused him to be uneasy.

_What the hell? Since when did Keigo made me feel uneasy with his words?_

"Best friends? My ass. If you didn't follow us here, maybe I could answer yes to that." Ichigo retaliated, hiding the foreign uneasiness with his snappy, yet lazy voice.

"There! Why are you so upset that we invited ourselves with you? Why do you so want to be with Kuchiki-san alone? Doesn't that mean something?" Keigo said, which secretly unnerved him.

_Why indeed?_

"How can you be so cruel? We're your best friends. Don't you care that you're hurting our feelings? Right, Mizuiro?" Keigo said, clutching his heart, his voice whiny. Ichigo knew better than to bite the bait. He so saw through the feigned hurt in his friend's whining.

"Shut up, man. Just keep walking, will you?" Ichigo snapped at him.

"Mizuiro. Did you hear that? Did you hear that? Ichigo doesn't want to confide in us. He doesn't want to tell us a very important thing such as him having a girl friend. Maybe he already has found some other best friends while he kept on disappearing." Keigo turned to Mizuiro, feigning—this time—his tears.

He sighed and eyed Mizuiro who remained silent about the whole ruckus.

"Ne, Mizuiro. Do you think Ichigo found other friends?" Keigo continued, being the brat that he is.

"Shut up. Look, Rukia is not my girl friend or something like that. So stuff your words back to your throat and keep walking." Ichigo answered. _Indeed, she is not my girl friend. _But why does the thought suddenly disturb him?_ She is not my girl friend. But why is there a damned tightening in my chest? Shit._

"But if she is not your girl friend, then why did you take her on this trip? And why did she come with you?" Keigo continued to pester him.

_Because she's my nakama?_

He refused to answer the question and sped up to catch up to the woman of subject. She was standing under a pine tree, still examining the natural world around them.

"You're fast." He said to her as he managed to catch up.

"No. You're just slow. Where do we go from here?" She stated, staring at him in the eye.

"Oy Ichigo. I said, where do we go from here? Why are you looking at me stupidly? Do I have something on my face?"

"What? Who the hell is looking at you?!"

"Uhh… nevermind. Why do you have to yell?! I was just asking, jeez." Rukia said angrily as he snorted. She began walking again, not letting him tell her which direction she should follow.

Ichigo watched her go and he wondered to himself.

_Why did I have to get worked up with that again? Didn't she just ask for directions? Seriously, what's wrong with me?_

"Ichigoooooooooo! Wait for us!" Keigo cried as he and Mizuiro ran to catch up with them.

"You're fast Ichigo. What have you been doing while you were away?" Mizuiro asked him, panting.

"Cmon. Let's hurry. We still have a lot of places to see." He told them as he began picking up his speed to catch up with Rukia again.

"Rukia! Wait up!"

"What did you just call her?" Keigo asked him, his face irritatingly triumphant.

Ichigo stopped on his tracks, as Keigo and Mizuiro shared knowing looks.

-------------

_Why did I take Rukia on this trip again?_

_Ahh… because I want to do something out of ordinary for her on her birthday._

_Why is that?_

_Because… well, that's… because she's Rukia?_

Ichigo is finding it hard to concentrate on the way as they neared Sumaging Cave, which was supposedly their next destination. The sun has already set when they were descending a rough, rocky, slope leading to the wide entrance of the seemingly underground cave.

_And so what if it's Rukia?_

_Because… she's weird?_

_Okay… and?_

_She's different._

_Huh. Really?_

Ichigo further weighed his thoughts, and his self-interrogations as Rukia hauled him back to reality.

"Ichigo. It's way too dark here. Do you have any light with you?"

"Ah, yes. I think I brought some flash lights with me. Wait a second." Ichigo said, fumbling on his back pack, and barely concealing his astonishment and embarrassment—which were partly because of his difficulty in answering his own questions, partly because he was surprised that he even interrogated himself, and partly, because he was put back to reality by the same woman who was the indirect cause of the strain in his thoughts.

"Are you guys sure you want to enter that spooky cave? Can we just come back tomorrow morning?" He heard Keigo say as he was distributing the flashlights to the three of them.

"Don't you think it's more exciting entering at this time, Asano-san?" Rukia answered him, wearing her exceedingly pleasant (and fake) smile.

"AH! You're right, Kuchiki-san. Into the cave we go!" Keigo stated, a little louder than necessary, as he awkwardly marched towards the entrance.

Keigo was followed by Mizuiro and later by Rukia who gave Ichigo a fleeting glance before entering, and Ichigo absently followed them as he once again plunged himself into his predicament.

_Maybe all of this is because I want to make Rukia feel some normalcy during her stay in the physical world._

_Well partly, _corrected by the other part of his mind.

_Okay! Okay! Maybe that's because I feel she's special!_

"Ah! Enough of this!" Ichigo said out loud. He noticed that they have already descended further inside the mysterious cave, and realized (with relief) that his sudden outburst wasn't noticed by his companions because their attention was occupied by the sheer size and the chill that surrounds them.

As they passed through the big and slippery rocks-- which served as their lane towards the heart of the cave—they were greeted by large chambers that house the fascinating stalactites and stalagmites that were now drawing sounds of amazement from Keigo and even Mizuiro.

The rock formations and lime stones are larger-than-life resemblances of different forms such as frogs, womb of a pregnant woman, and cauliflower, to name a few.

Ichigo's eyes examined the enormous chamber and his eyes rested on the sole figure that immersed herself in the clear, blue-green water (which he supposed was the vestige of the previous underground river that coursed through the cave).

He watched her as she relished in the mystic beauty of the cave and the exhilarating feel that it provides them. He fixed his eyes on her as she jumped from one lime stone to another, laughing at each forms as she perhaps thought of their uncanny resemblance to different life forms. He wondered how he found it difficult to take his eyes off of her.

He hasn't really considered it before. His feelings towards her, that is. Now that he thinks about it-- contemplates about it even—he could no longer remember how he started getting used to her presence in his life. In fact, he could no longer remember the times before _that _'Fated Night' when they first met and changed each others' lives.

_What change in each others' lives?_

Uhh… whatever. To be more precise, _that _night when she changed his life forever. Because of her, he was allowed to do countless of things that he never imagined he'd be able to do several months back. With her initiation, his gear was activated and moved relentlessly, propelling him forward.

Yes, it's all thanks to her.

_Maybe this is why I'm doing this to her? To get even? I owe her a lot anyway._

But no. Ichigo knew that this wasn't the sole reason why he was doing all of these things to her.

There is just this certain something that makes him feel funny inside, which he knew had something to do with all of his efforts to "get even" with her.

He continued following her with his gaze, felt his face break into a gentle smile as he did so. _This tender and distinct feeling I have, only elicited by Rukia is perhaps the reason why._

Or maybe, it's just the food that he ate once when he was in Soul Society.

He felt a freezing cold wetness touch his skin that snapped him out of his reverie. Keigo was telling something.

"Ichigo! Seriously, man. What's wrong with you? You've been zoning out since we came from those hanging coffins. Do you happen to be seeing their ghosts and don't want to tell us?" Keigo joked as they all turned to go back towards the mouth of the cave.

-------------

It was already so late when they emerged from the cave. Keigo chatted with Rukia animatedly, as they headed back towards their hotel, which was a few kilometers from the cave. Nonetheless, they decided to hike back for the sake of hiking. Ichigo could feel that his companions have had a good time the whole day. Keigo, Mizuiro, and Rukia talked about their discoveries and their explorations, as Ichigo responded on cue when they turn their attentions towards him. He was still resolving something with himself.

_I've known her only for a few months but it sure feels like I've known her since forever… It's like… she's been here since the beginning._

When he comes to consider it even more, he feels like she's just a part of him. Someone whose existence is tied with his own. Or something like that. He doesn't know how to put it exactly, but in simpler terms, it's as though he's been living with her all along. It's like they're already connected before they even met.

Weird, yeah, but that's about how he explains it to himself.

_Is that your explanation?_

Yes

_Then start getting worried._

Shit. I AM WORRIED.

-------------

Ichigo decided to lay his cards and elucidate about the matter with himself.

First, Rukia's presence is something which he is so used to and so familiar with. Second, he owes his life to her. Third, he wants to protect her. Fourth, he wants to always be there for her. Fifth, he wants to make her smile. Sixth, he wants to make her happy (he's being redundant, alright). Seventh, he wants to support her. Eighth, he wants to make her get used to the kind of life that he lives. Ninth, he wants to be with her. Always. If he can. Tenth, Rukia is a very important person-slash-shinigami to him.

And to come to conclusion…

Ichigo searched for answers in his head, and after quite a long time, he still hasn't arrived at any concrete answer. In his exasperation, he glanced at his watch and realized that it was already half an hour to midnight. And with that, he started panicking.

As they neared their hotel, he snatched Rukia away from Keigo and Mizuiro. Rukia threw her an interrogating look as they ran towards the "Rice Terraces" whose way he barely remember from the brochure that Keigo was reading earlier that day. He didn't answer.

They were both panting as the image of the gigantic "staircase" of rice field came into their view. They stopped on a hill facing the mountain that was made into a planting field by the ancient locals for planting rice. Both of them allowed their breaths to stabilize before any of them did or say something.

10 minutes to midnight.

_The place doesn't matter. I just have to have her with me alone, this time. The hell. It was time to execute the original plan._

"Ichigo…" Rukia started when he didn't say a word.

"Shh… Wait a minute."

5 minutes to midnight.

Ichigo opened his bag and took out something which he bought back from Japan before they came to the Philippines.

_I am still not sure why I am doing this. All I know is that I can't imagine my life without her in it. I don't even want to live that kind of life. For everything, I am thankful to her…_

_And for the more pressing matter…_

Time: 12:00 midnight

Ichigo walked behind Rukia as she continued to look at him curiously. He put on her the necklace which he bought for her and finally faced her afterwards.

He could feel his face getting warm, and looked elsewhere as he muttered, "Happy birthday, Rukia."

It was then that he finally forced himself to look at her in the eyes. When he did so, he was surprised with the intensity of her expression as she stared at the Chappy pendant, astounded. Seconds passed when she finally opened her mouth to say,

"Thank you Ichigo. For all of this, thank you. And for everything, thank you." Rukia said as she bestowed him her warm and heart-melting smile.

_No. That would be my line._

-Fin-

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A/N1:

PHEW! I am finally done! HAHAHA! There you go. I hope I haven't made Ichigo or Rukia or Keigo or Mizuiro so OOC. xD

Initially, I planned to have a descriptive story, describing the place, but later decided that I want to concentrate on Ichigo's feelings. This put me in turmoil because I wanted to do both, and the story above is the best I can do to describe some of the places in Sagada, at the same time, tackling Ichigo's contemplations. Haha!

Sagada is one of the provinces in the Northern Philippines. The Rice Terraces I mentioned at the end is one of the frequently visited spots in the province because it is a result of the cooperation and hard-work of the native locals that used to live in the place several centuries back. It was engineered in a way that the surface area of the mountain for cultivation is increased. XD But I am not one to talk about that. LOL

So there. I hope you had fun reading this; though, it got longer than I expected. XO

And oh btw, the pendant is really Chappy. XD I don't know how Ichigo found it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUKIA!

A/N2:

This isn't beta-ed. So if you find any error in grammar or in spelling, please tell me. English isn't my first language, so forgive some lapses in the language. And I should also apologize if the fic seems rushed. : TIme just isn't siding with me at the moment. :( Nonetheless, thanks for reading!

A/N3: This is an entry to the event held in Bleach Asylum for Rukia's birthday. We were supposed to submit an entry (in my case, fanfiction) in which Ichigo and Rukia visits your own country. So, there. Ichigo and Rukia did visit Philippines! Yay.

And now, it's time to go back to my shell and study for my exam on the 15th. T3T


End file.
